A Star Wars Christmas Carol
by Kadie Alice McBrayer
Summary: Following his execution of Obi-wan Kenobi, Darth Vader is visited by five ghostly specters...will he ever be the same again?
1. Obi-wan's Ghost

A Star Wars Christmas Carol   
Chapter One   
Obi-wan's Ghost   
  
  
Obi-wan was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. The death had been witnessed by thousands of stormtroopers, the Alderaan Princess, the smuggler, and the boy that had been with him. Vader saw it himself. Hang it all, Vader did it himself.   
  
Old Ben was as dead as a doornail.   
  
Vader knew he was dead? Of course. They'd been Master and Padawan for years, traveling the worlds in search of a chance to protect the innocent. But that had been before. Before Anakin Skywalker had been killed at the hand of Darth Vader. Before Anakin had turned so thoroughly to the dark side that he was Anakin no more, but a dark monster, only a shadow of what he had been.   
  
Again I must say, Obi-wan was dead.   
  
This must be thoroughly understood if you are to gain anything at all from my ghostly tale.   
  
It was a horrible, black night, in which the wind howled, and lightning crashed on the surface of Coruscant. But it did not bother Vader. He only wanted to get away from this consciousness, to fall into sleep where visions of his fallen Master and the blonde-headed boy that had followed him would be no more. He could still hear the boy's screams as he cut the old man down earlier in the day.   
  
It had reminded him too much of himself when his Angel had died.   
  
Vader had returned to Coruscant, after gaining control of his errant TIE fighter. He stayed in Coruscant center, with the best of accomodations. Still, it did no good to warm him.   
  
As Vader lay down to sleep, he glanced over at the shelf where lay three lightsabers: his own red one, and the ones that had belonged to Qui-gon Jinn and Obi-wan Kenobi.   
  
To his surprise, the inactive sabers suddenly hissed to life.   
  
If you could have seen Vader's eyes behind the Mask, you would have seen two very bright, very wide, very alarmed blue orbs.   
  
The soft, insectlike hum of the three weapons lasted little more than thirty seconds, but to Vader it seemed and eternity. When, at last, they deactivated and rolled back onto the table where he had lain them, Vader sighed.   
  
Must be something wrong with my visual monitors. He thought, and returned to his readying for bed. (It took Vader quite a while to do this, you see, because he had to remove the mask, hook up a manual respirator to his mouth, and somehow manage to lie down without knocking it out. Try to picture this, if you can. I found it quite humorous.)   
  
After his third attempt, Vader finally managed to stay in the bed with his respirator attached, and lay down to sleep.   
  
Presently, a presence (and a very familiar one, I might add) made itself known in Vader's mind. It came from the deck below, but was slowly moving upwards, upwards. Towards him.   
  
For a moment, Vader ignored it. Nonsense! he thought. It's nothing.   
  
But the presence kept coming nearer. It reached the turbolift next to his room. Then, the corridor. Vader's eyes opened wide as he felt the presence right outside his door.   
  
It stopped.   
  
If Darth Vader had the physical ability to sigh, he would have done it. No one could get through the door without his security code. And that's that.   
  
He had thought too soon, for just as his mind formed the words, a pale, blue tinted form stepped right through the door!   
  
It was a calm, peaceful face, one he knew well, for he had long loved this man as a father. But, as I said, that was before.   
  
Obi-wan Kenobi.   
  
Not old Ben Kenobi, the man he had killed earlier that day. No, this was the mighty Obi-wan, with his wise blue eyes and brown, shaggy beard. The man whom he had called "Master". The man, in heart, he had called "Father".   
  
There was a smile on the man's face, and this left Vader feeling even more disconcerted that he had felt when the ghost had walked through his door.   
  
"What do you want with me, old man?"   
  
"Much, my son." he said softly. "Very much."   
  
"Who are you?"   
  
I never quite understood why Lord Vader asked this question. He knew full well who it was...nevertheless, he asked it.   
  
"Ask me who I was."   
  
"Who were you, then?"   
  
With another soft smile, the man answered.   
  
"In life I was your dearest friend, your Master. I was Obi-wan Kenobi."   
  
"Can you sit?" Vader asked nervously, trying to sound superior, and failing. He was not wearing his mask, and Kenobi looked straight into his eyes. It was as if the man knew his soul.   
  
"Yes, I can."   
  
"Do so, then."   
  
Vader asked this question, simply because he knew not whether the trasparent figure held solid enough to sit down. He did, however, and sat in a chair directly across from the Dark Lord's bedchamber. He laughed heartily after that.   
  
"You don't believe in me, do you, Anakin?"   
  
The Dark Lord scowled.   
  
"Of course I don't." he then mumbled, as if he were a small child trying to convince himself of something that was untrue. "And Anakin Skywalker is dead."   
  
Obi-wan laughed again. "Is that so? I don't believe it, just as much as you don't believe in me. So tell me, Anakin," the ghost looked into his eyes. "Why do you doubt your senses?"   
  
"Because your senses can decieve you," he mumbled. "You shouldn't trust them."   
  
The ghost gave Anakin false-surprise look. "So you did listen to me. Why do you doubt the Force, Anakin? Doesn't it tell you I'm here!"   
  
"Anakin Skywalker is DEAD!" Vader yelled. The ghost of Obi-wan Kenobi seemed unaffected.   
  
"You didn't answer my question, Anakin."   
  
If Vader had not been restrained by his respirator, he would have thrown his lightsaber at the apparition. It would have done no good, of course. He was already dead.   
  
"The Force tells me many things," he finally answered. "You could be a dream. I have seen you many times in dreams."   
  
"Yes, I know." Obi-wan said with a chuckle. "If you had continued your training with me I would have shown you how to do that."   
  
"How to do what?"   
  
"Project yourself into other's dreams, of course! You don't think those dreams were accidents, do you?"   
  
"Get out of my head, old man!"   
  
"I'm sorry, Anakin. I can't leave you until I've delivered my message. I told you I had much to speak with you about."   
  
"So speak, then, and begone."   
  
"Always to the point, weren't you, Anakin?" Obi-wan ignored the annoyed look on Vader's face and continued.   
  
"I've come to speak to you about freedom Anakin. The freedom of a second chance."   
  
"Second chance? What do you mean?"   
  
"A second chance at life, Anakin."   
  
"Speak plainly, old man!"   
  
Obi-wan's cheerful demeanor vanished in an instant, so fast that it left Vader with a chill in his skin. Obi-wan spoke, in a deep voice.   
  
"Anakin," he began. "Do you remember the winter holidays you used to celebrate with your mother?"   
  
Vader swallowed. "Yes."   
  
"And Christmas with Padme?"   
  
"Yes, continue."   
  
"It is Christmas again."   
  
Vader blinked. He had not noticed. Indeed, he had not noticed in a long, long time. He had no need to notice.   
  
"Your point, old man, and quickly!"   
  
"In the next four nights," the ghost continued. "You will be visited by four spirits. If, at the end of those four nights, you have not changed, the you are truly unreachable. You will be doomed to an eternal torture. "   
  
Vader stared at him with cold blue eyes. "Nonsense."   
  
Obi-wan shook his transparent head and smiled, murmuring under his breath. "May the Force be with you." He said, and disappeared.   
  
Vader blinked, and for a moment wondered if it had been a dream. He muttered "Nonsense." under his breath, before trying to get settled in his bed again. 


	2. The first of the spirits...

A Star Wars Christmas Carol   
Chapter Two   
The First of the Spirits...   
  
  
It was so dark when Vader awoke that he could barely distingish the white sheets of his bed from the midnight black of his helment laying in case next to the bed. It was chilly night, and he shivered, pulling his chronometer closer to look at it. Daylight wouldn't come soon enough for him, and he wanted to count the hours.   
  
Twelve? He thought desperately, looking at the clock again. He was very surprised, because when his chilling vision of Obi-wan had ended, it had been just a little past two in the morning.   
  
Could I have possibly slept through the day and into another night? He thought. It's impossible. And yet...   
  
He paused for a moment. If course. There was something wrong with the chronometer.   
  
All stuff and nonsense, he thought. All this thinking about ghosts. It is a simple glitch in the chrono, that's all.   
  
Vader went to bed again, with little struggle with the respirator. Sleep almost captured him several times, but his mind kept sending him a visual picture: the Ghost of Obi-wan Kenobi. The more Vader thought, the more frustrated he became. And the more frustrated he became, the more angry he became at Obi-wan.   
  
"Blast it all, you old fool!" he screamed aloud. Though he saw no one, he hoped fervently that the old man's ghost still lingered in the room to hear his words.   
  
Suddenly, Vader stopped, afraid to move. His eyes wandered round the room, and he felt someone nearby.   
  
Then his eyes went wide, and he swallowed, and blinked a few times, not believing his eyes.   
  
  
Arrayed in white, with long brown hair that reached her ankles, and big, brown eyes, stood an Angel.   
  
  
His Angel.   
  
Anakin was afraid to move. He was afraid to breath, afraid to even lift his hand out to her, for fear she might disappear at his touch. And then, like silver bells, her soft laughter reached his ears. The sweetest sound he'd heard in twenty years.   
  
"Oh, my Anakin. You never could control your temper, could you?"   
  
Vader swallowed, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "Ami?"   
  
She nodded, her brown hair moving softly about her. "Yes, Ani, it's me. But we don't have much time."   
  
"You are the spirit Obi-wan spoke of?"   
  
"One of them. Of Christmas past. " She smiled. "Others you will know later."   
  
"Christmas long past?" he asked.   
  
"No, my love. Christmas of your past."   
  
Vader sat up stiffly. His past was not something he wanted to discuss.   
  
"No."   
  
"Ani, please-"   
  
"No!"   
  
She shrank back, seemed to become smaller.   
  
"Ani, your welfare is at stake. I still care about you!" She reached out, and her ghostly trasparent arms touched his shoulder.   
  
When he felt her spectral touch, a tingling sensation rushed through his body. He breathed deeply--a deep breath that, he realized as Amidala removed the respirator--he didn't require help to take.   
  
He stared at her questioningly.   
  
"Please," she pleaded. "Please. I've some things to show you that could change your life."   
  
No other person could have persuaded Anakin to leave the safe chambers aboard the Executor. However, this was his Amidala, his Angel.   
  
She knew the very core of him that was Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader. She knew how to reach the core of his soul, through the hard armour of the Dark Lord of the Sith.   
  
Please...The Force seemed to amplify her callings. Come with me...   
  
At last, the Anakin within Vader could resist no longer. She took his hand and smiled, and then Anakin felt disoriented.   
  
When he opened his eyes again, he felt...hot. There was sand all around him--   
  
Wait a minute, he thought. Tatooine?   
  
Amidala turned to him. "Do you recognize this place, Anakin?" 


	3. Christmas long past...

As the sand swirled around them and memories came flooding into his mind, Vader nodded. "How could I not remember?"   
  
All around them in the sand, little children played or small animals (mostly lizards, for those are the only kind of pet that can survive in the desert) followed their Masters home, eagerly awaiting the post-harvest celebration that was to be held that night.   
  
"All except one." The Spirit said aloud.   
  
Then she looked forward, and pointed.   
  
"Look there, Anakin. Watto's shop. Do you remember it?"   
  
He only nodded. She stared at him for a moment, aware of the shining tear that coursed down his cheek. When he finally noticed her stare, he looked at her strangely, as if trying to cover up the fact that he had been crying.   
  
"What?" He said.   
  
"You were crying."   
  
"I was not!"   
  
"Anakin Skywalker, don't you lie to me. I know when you've been crying. It's all right, really it is."   
  
His eyes seemed to soften for a moment, almost to the laughing blue she remembered, but then they darkened again, leaving only a dark, stormy blue mixed with sadness and pain. His voice was low, and almost threatening.   
  
"Anakin Skywalker," he said in a low voice. "Is dead. I killed him. And I was not crying."   
  
With that he turned from Amidala's ghost and stomped off in the direction of the junk shop. Before hurrying after him, the specter directed her eyes toward the sky, where Tatooine's twin suns blazed in all their fury.   
  
"This plan of yours had better work, Qui-Gon." she breathed.   
  
Patience, came a whispered voice. The balance will come soon.   
  
Meanwhile, Vader found himself inside a dusty, familiar work shop where a small boy tired laboriously. He could not have =been more than four or five, by the looks of him, and he was sitting on a stool, tinkering with a small droid that sat in front of him.   
  
He was no stranger to Vader.   
  
Walking up to the child, Vader's eyes hardened.   
  
"Such a fool you are!" he said, speaking to the boy. "A fool, do you hear me? You cannot hide forever in your dreams, little boy. One you'll wake up to find them all a lie!"   
  
Frustrated that the boy didn't seem to hear him, Vader reached for his lightsaber, only to remember that it wasn't there. It lay motionless on a table in his bedchambers.   
  
All of a sudden, a very quiet Padme-ghost appeared beside him. The appearance of her--the gentle softness and the sadness in her eyes--calmed him at once. He could find nothing more to say.   
  
"He can't hear you."   
  
"What? Why?"   
  
"These are only pictures of things that used to be. He can't hear you."   
  
Vader was silent.   
  
"That little boy," she started. "Works all day long with naught but his imagination for company. His mind dreams of adventure, of love, and laughter. Of the places he'd see and the people he'd meet. Of becoming a Jedi. Of visiting every planet in the galaxy." She seemed to be the one crying now, and suddenly the Anakin inside of Vader began to scream for release.   
  
"It seems so far off, doesn't it, Lord Vader? An innocence like that, I mean."   
  
Vader stopped. It was the first time since their ghostly encounter that she had acknowledged him as Vader. Somewhere inside of him--the part of him that was Anakin Skywalker still, perhaps--something stirred, and he felt sad.   
  
Vader however, shoved Anakin back down inside of him with conviction.   
  
"The boy is a fool. His hopes are nonsense, his dreams stupidity. He will not survive."   
  
The ghost sighed. Would he never learn?   
  
Before she could respond to his remark, a rough voice could be heard from a room deep in the shop.   
  
"Anakin you can-a go a-home!"   
  
"Yipee!" he shouted, and jumped from the table. He ran out of the shop.   
  
Padme smiled and looked longingly after the little boy, and then turned to Vader. She lay her hand on his arm.   
  
Before Vader knew what had happened, they were standing in the middle of a small hut, where the boy and his mother bowed their heads in a prayer of thanksgiving. When they were done, Vader walked over and stared in wonder at the woman.   
  
"Mother?" he whispered. "My mother?"   
  
Padme knelt beside him. "Yes." she said softly. "Christmas here was always a happy time, even though your mother had little money. She always gave you her best, didn't she?"   
  
Vader nodded. "Yes. Sometimes she would go a week without anything to eat and only water to drink. She loved me so much, and I loved her too."   
  
Padme lay her hand on his shoulder, noticing that the hard shell was beginning to soften again. They watched the little family eat, and then they got up merrily from the table.   
  
"I have a gift for you, Ani."   
  
The little boy smiled. "Can I go first? I have something for you, too."   
  
Shmi nodded, and smiled. Anakin rushed into his room, leaving Shmi to look lovingly after her son. Vader frowned.   
  
"It took me a whole year to save up for the necklace he's going to get her." His eyes got a little angrier. "And then Watto wouldn't let her keep it. He stole it and used the money to bet on the races."   
  
"Oh, Anakin," she sighed. "I'm so sorry."   
  
Before he could reply, the boy came rushing back in with a small box. Shmi opened it with gentle hands, and gasped as she brought the silver necklace from it's case.   
  
"Ani, where ever did you get the money for such a thing?"   
  
Anakin's little eyes brightened. "It took me a whole year to save up, Mom. Do you like it?"   
  
The little necklace was in the shape of a five-pointed star, and shimmered as Anakin placed it about her neck. She kissed his cheek.   
  
"I love it, my dear little Ani." She smiled. "Now, for your present."   
  
Shmi quickly exited the room, and brought back with her a brightly decorated box, with a blue ribbon on the top. Anakin's eyes widened. He opened the box carefully.   
  
"Thanks, mom!" His blue eyes shone as he looked at his present. Shmi had worked for months to find the right parts, and even begged Watto to let her have some of the extra parts lying around the shop.   
  
In the box lay, what would have looked to anyone else a pile of junk. But for Anakin Skywalker, it was a box of treasures. Droid parts and tools of every kind were his present, and he jumped up and down and threw his arms around him mother's neck.   
  
"I love you too, Anakin. So much."   
  
As the scene unfolded before the two unseen visitors, Anakin Skywalker began to peek through Vader's armour once more. Tears ran fresh down his cheeks. Padme took his hand.   
  
"Come, Anakin," she used his name again. "We've other things to see."   
  
When Vader dared to open his eyes again, he found himself in a place not unfamiliar to his eyes. There was a small room to the back, where slept a young man, of about twenty-five years. The room was cozy, and it seemed like that of a house. However, when you walked a little more to the front of the place, a large cockpit showed the blackness of space from it's viewscreen. There was a panel of lights buzzing and blinking, and a young boy--he could not have been more than ten or eleven years old--controlled it. He was dressed simply, with a brown tunic and robe, and a short, buzzed haircut. A lone braid hung down to his neck, denoting his status as a Jedi padawan.   
  
"It's Obi-wan's ship!" Vader exclaimed. "I remember this. We had just returned from visiting my mother for winter holidays, and I had...reservations, about leaving her again. Obi-wan told me that if I'd be brave and try not to think about it, he'd let me pilot the ship on the way home."   
  
Padme smiled. "Yes," she said softly. "It was the last Christmas you spent with your mother."   
  
Vader's eyes became dark. "Yes." he said simply. "Watto went broke on some gambling debts and had to sell everything, including mother. I never saw her again."   
  
As Vader grew sullen, he walked over to the ships quarters where Obi-wan slept as the boy Anakin piloted Lightning Myst.   
  
"Obi-wan did everything to comfort me that year. He hated seeing you sad, Anakin." Padme said softly.   
  
"Anakin Skywalker," Vader said, in a less menacing voice. "is dead. And Obi-wan Kenobi never cared a lick for me. He only tried to pacify me so I wouldn't get on his nerves. He only trained me because Qui-gon made him promise. There was no love in the action."   
  
Vader's words were harsh, but the tone of his voice betrayed his true feelings. The Ghost looked up at him as he watched Obi-wan sleep.   
  
"How could you say that?" she whispered. "He would have died for you, had he the chance. You were a son to him."   
  
"Son?" Vader sneered. "Son? No, I was no son of Kenobi's. I was a responsibility that he had. Thats's all."   
  
Before Padme could respond, Obi-wan blinked his eyes open, and got up from the bed. He stretched, and yawned, and then looked through his open door at Anakin, smiling.   
  
"Having fun, Anakin?" he said. He seemed to look right through the two unseen passengers.   
  
Ten year old Anakin flashed a smile at him.   
  
"Yes, Master! Thank you so much!"   
  
A satistfied smile spread across Obi-wan's face, and he walked slowly and sat beside Anakin. They engaged in a soft conversation, unheard by the two specters. Vader said nothing, and Padme looked at him sadly.   
  
"See how he cared for you? How can you say that he never did? It made him happy because you were happy."   
  
Vader remained silent.   
  
  
They both stood still there for what seemed like a long time, with Vader staring into the black space displayed on the Myst's viewscreen, and Padme staring intently at the conversation between young Anakin and Obi-wan. Once, Padme thought she had almost caught her onetime lover staring at them right along with her, listening to the conversation, but Vader had other thoughts. He would not be caught in weakness. He turned away from her before she could say anything.   
  
"Spirit," he said in a commanding voice. "Take us away from here. I cannot stand looking at this man's face any longer and the boy annoys me. Is there not some other vision you are to show to me, or at least will you take me back to my quarters so I may wake up from this dream?"   
  
The hardness in his voice startled the she-ghost, though she knew it shouldn't have. The hope had almost drained from her face as she stared up into his eyes.   
  
Padme looked as if she had lost everything, or as if she might break down into fits of tears. She deserved it, and I have a feeling no one reading this story would blame her if she had broken down. But it was not the way of the former queen. No, she did not cry. She hadn't cried when her parents died, gave no outer manifestation of grief when Anakin left her, and only cried a little bit during childbirth. No, it was not her way.   
  
She would not defer.   
  
Then, like a light suddenly flaring to life, she stared back up into Vader's eyes. Though clouded, they were the same vivid eyes she remembered staring dreamily into as she recited her wedding vows. Anakin still resided within the hollow shell that was Darth Vader. Darth Vader might be able to bury Anakin alive, but he would never be able to fully extinguish the light of the Chosen One.   
  
He hasn't driven it from you fully.   
  
Vader had expected a worse reaction to his harsh words. He hadn't expected to see Padme smiling up at him, brightly. Laughing merrily, she grabbed his hand.   
  
At her touch, the Myst faded slowly away, and was replaced by a scene very familiar to both the guide and guided.   
  
All around them couples danced on a wide, marble dancing floor that spread out onto balconies and reflected in the tall, crystalline windows. The ceiling was high, and grand chandeliers hung from it, reflecting light from it's prisms in a rainbow of colors. A grand table was set out not far from the dancing floor, where the rarest delicacies and purest, oldest wines were served to the guests, human and alien alike.   
  
There were many kinds of people all around. Some were nobles, whom Padme recognized, with high collared dresses and fancy hairstyles native of Naboo. Others, whom the Anakin within Vader knew very well, were Jedi and various people that Anakin had rescued or befriended on missions,or perhaps some of them were friends from Tatooine; Anakin couldn't tell.   
  
It was he who mumbled this time, gasping at the accuracy of the vision. This had been such a happy time; the calm before the storm, he was sure Padme would call it.   
  
"Our wedding reception." The Anakin within Vader breathed silently. "Our wedding reception."   
  
  
  
Padme' got a sort of satisfied look on her face, as if they had finally reached what she had been waiting for. The maskless Vader, however, remained silent after his initial exclamation.   
  
"Look, Anakin!" Padme' shouted gleefully, "It's Jar Jar!"   
  
Vader forgot himself and laughed as Jar Jar stumbled head first into a bowl of punch. "And look!" he replied. "Kitster!"   
  
The past seemed to come alive before them as familiar faces showed themselves all around the room. Siri Gallia smiled contentedly on the arm of Master Mace Windu, and Kitster was had a sly look on his face as he romanced a Nubian handmaiden.   
  
Seated at a formal Nubian dinner table, was the closest of family and friends from both the bride and the groom. At one end of the table sat Master Yoda, surrounded by the three remaining handmaidens (and he seemed to be having a marvelous time) and down the ends of the tables were seated many Jedi whom Anakin had once known and respected. Most of of them, he noted, had died at the hand of Darth Vader.   
  
At the other end of the table, sat a vision that made his heart wrench. Clad in formal white, Padme Naberrie Skywalker sat in contented conversation with his younger self. The two lovers seemed to be lost in a world all their own, not knowing or caring that they were surrounded by hundreds of people. A proud-looking Obi-wan sat beaming near him, his arm around Sabe' with his eyes full of pride.   
  
  
As Vader looked upon the happy scene, he was filled with memories of how it had felt to sit there, holding her as if nothing else mattered. He looked over at the Spirit and the forlorn look on her face made his heart want to burst. He swallowed as she turned her gaze on him. Her opal eyes were full of tears.   
  
"Anakin..." she whispered. "What went wrong? What happened?"   
  
His voice was hoarse, and she saw Anakin in his eyes as clear as day. For the moment, Vader had been beaten into submission.   
  
"I don't know, my angel. I honestly don't."   
  
The'r gaze lingered on the happy couple for what seemed like an eternity, both of them longing to recapture that day for as long as they could. Anakin made no attempt to hide his tears this time; they flowed freely down his scarred face. Padme let go her hold on his hand and slipped her arm around his waist, and she reached up and wiped the tears from his face. His blue eyes blinked open and for the first time in eighteen years he smiled at her. He sighed and moved his arms to encircle her waist...   
  
and found he was holding his pillow very tightly.   
  
  
Vader's eyes popped open, and he gasped for breath. He sat up in bed, noticing the fact that he was still connected to the respirator.   
  
What a strange dream! 


	4. The Second Spirit

A Star Wars Christmas Carol   
Chapter 4   
The Second of the Spirits…   
  
Vader looked all round the room, expecting at any minute for the beauty of the Angel to rest in his vision again. When she did not appear, Anakin Skywalker sank back deep within the evil that was Vader.   
  
The Anakin within Vader only wept.   
  
Vader sneered.   
  
iFool! You are weak!   
  
She was my wife!   
  
She is dead!/i   
  
Somewhere inside of Vader's heart (if you can say there was such a thing) Anakin Skywalker shed bitter tears over his Angel.   
  
Vader, however, was not weeping. He was, in fact, looking around the room with a sort of paranoid look on his face. You know--the kind on the faces of those people who've been spies or secret agents for too long, and they have to be admitted to an asylum. That was the look on the unmasked face of Darth Vader. He wondered by what way the next specter would come--and feared it greatly.   
  
Now, I wonder at his calling Anakin Skywalker a fool. Is he not worried about a ghost peeping through his door, or a specter from underneath his bed? Anakin was mourning his wife. Vader was looking for monsters under his bed.   
  
  
Had he any reason to call Skywalker a fool, when he himself was acting like a child?   
  
The comment, however, only showed what Anakin's heart was like. For really the core of the dark side in Anakin (Vader himself) was the fact that Anakin Skywalker hated himself. He hated all he had become, all he had let his world become, so he dove deeper and deeper into the darkness, to forget. Does not an alcoholic drink to forget the trouble that the liquor causes? The drink only causes more trouble, so he drinks more, more. He never sees that to clear up the problems, he must stop the drinking. This was the case with Anakin Skywalker. He never thought that if he could right the wrongs, he could undo the damage.   
  
  
And so he dove now. The blue eyes narrowed to slits of a dark, disconcerting shade, and he moved slowly to the table where sat his lightsaber. Clipping it onto his belt, he looked around with a fierce determination on his face. If the spirits were to come, let them come. He would not be caught in weakness this time.   
  
Surprisingly, Vader did not replace the helmet. He noticed, in retrospect, that he had not needed the respirator, either, after his encounter with Padme. He did not notice now, however.   
What he did notice was a soft glowing light emanating from a small room right next to his. Funny, he thought. I never noticed a door there before.   
  
He walked slowly to the door and pressed it's button. When the panel slid open, he reached up to shield his eyes. The light increased a hundredfold in intensity, and Vader noticed now that the light was not normal white light from an overhead lightsource or a beside lamp, but a sort if glowing red light, like the glow produced by his lightsaber, only softer.   
  
Walking in, Vader had only to glance once at the short, stubby figure to recognize it.   
  
The little creature smiled mischievously.   
  
"He he…welcome you, I do!" 


	5. Home Again

The little green man looked on the unmasked Vader with a sort of gleeful little smirk, like he knew something Vader did not.   
  
Vader didn't like it one bit.   
  
"You are the next spirit, I take it?"   
  
Yoda laughed. "Hehe…Spirit, no. Alive I am still, in your galaxy. Projecting myself into your dreams, I am. Call me 'Spirit of the Present' for some reason, they do. Understand, I do not."   
  
"Oh," was all Vader could muster. He was still recuperating from his last visitor, who had left him emotionally spent. He was melancholy, and almost…sad. And any sort of positive emotion--like the fact that Anakin within Vader missed the Angel--annoyed Vader. And the little green man annoyed him still, and so focused was he on his annoyance that he paid no attention to the fact that Yoda had just revealed critical information to him. The fact that the old Jedi Master was still alive and living meant he was able to teach the ways of the Force. Moreover, if he was able to that, he might be able to resurrect the Jedi Order…with disastrous results for the Empire. Vader, however, didn't notice. He only stared around the room in annoyance and sighed…"I thought I obliterated this place!"   
  
Looking around him, Vader saw twelve chairs, with one smaller chair, on which his visitor sat, placed in the middle. There was a balcony overlooking a great city that looked as if it should make a great deal of noise. It made no noise, however. It was as hauntingly silent as one might have expected a graveyard to be, the only sound the noise of the small Jedi Master speaking. The planet was Coruscant, the place the Jedi Temple. Anakin within Vader relaxed at being home, while Vader himself shiited uncomfortably on his feet. He said nothing, waiting for the elder one to say something.   
  
Jumping up to where he was standing in his less that tall seat, the stumpy little Master stood to his full height. Bear in mind that the creature's full height was far less than impressive, but when that was combined with his wicked, mischievious grin, full of tiny, sharp teeth, it was quite indimidating. Vader, at least, found it miserable to be in Yoda's presence.   
  
"Have nothing to say, do you? A first, is this. Always did you have something to say."   
  
Vader glared at his former teacher. "There is nothing to say."   
  
Much to Vader's chargrin, the little man grinned again and picked up a stick that sat near his chair. His big eyes shone with mystery, and his mouth continued to stay curved upwards in a smile. "Nothing to say? Perhaps not. But much to see. Come, come." Yoda waved his former student on with the gimer stick, and, propelled by the Force, Vader followed.   
  
It didn't take him long to realize that his room had vanished again, and had been replaced by sand…it seemed too much like the first dream.   
  
They were not in Mos Espa, he noticed after a while. There was no busy marketplace, only a small suburb with a few shops dotting a street. A large refueling station stood at the end of the street, with a big sign marked in Huttese: Tosche.   
  
  
"Anchorhead?" Vader said in confusion. "What are we doing here? There's nothing here but a few shops and moisture farmers…"   
  
Then, all of a sudden, it hit him.   
  
"Moisture farmers." He said aloud. "The Lars homestead."   
""Hmmm…." Yoda said. "Nothing you will find there, this Christmas."   
  
"Why not?" he said with a sharp turn of his head. Vader had given strict instructions to his troops to leave Anchorhead alone. He may have been a Dark Lord, but his mother was buried in Anchorhead. He refused to to belittle her memory.   
  
"Your troops, they were, I think. Burnt it. Gone, it is."   
  
The anger shone clearly in Vader's eyes. He was not concentrating on the fact that this all seemed so rediculous, only that his troops had disobeyed him, and that if he ever woke up from this blasted dream that a few hundred stormtroopers would die.   
  
"Come, come," Yoda beckoned again. "Here for the homestead, we are not. To the station we go."   
  
"To see what?" Vader snapped.   
  
"Christmas of the present."   
  
  
Vader complied begrudgingly, following the little green man as they walked slowly down the dusty streets in Anchorhead. The short walk brought memories rushing back to Vader; he had only been here once before, to his brother's moisture farm, and it had not been a pleasant experience.   
  
[i]It was beginning to cool off, as the twin suns of Tatooine were setting. Anakin wept as he watched the flames licked up through the air, consuming what had been the only family he had ever known.   
  
From behind him, a small figure approached and wrapped her slender arms around his waist. The gleaming ring on her hand showed that she had been claimed as his own, and Anakin returned her embrace fiercely and wept as Amidala held him.   
  
The only ones attending the small service were Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, and the Lars family, whom Anakin's mother had married into in his absence. Anakin's step brother, Owen, stared at the flames as well, also with tears in his eyes. It was the only time Anakin had ever been able to stand Owen Lars; the rest of the time they'd been arguing, never getting along. At their time of grief, however, they put aside their differences.   
  
"Come home with us, Anakin," Owen said after the funeral was done. "Stay with us a little while. You are our brother, after all."   
  
Anakin smiled at the invitation, and then looked over to his beloved. "I'll be going, brother. I have this one to tend to," he nodded to Padme. "And Obi-wan is expecting me back tomorrow. But thank you."   
  
Owen nodded and the two shook hands. Anakin sighed and stared out into the sunset, and his mother's smoldering funeral pyre.   
  
"I'm never coming back here again." he murmured.[/i]   
  
Yes, this was the place where he had vowed never, ever to return to Tatooine. Yet now he found himself here, against his own will. He didn't understand what was happening, what had happened, or anything, really. He only knew he was somewere he didn't want to be, under the spell of someone who's company he didn't want. Yet, even now, he did not dare defy Master Yoda.   
  
He wrinkled his nose when he reached the small station. As the first ghost had done, no doors or walls barred them from the inside; a wave of the Master's hand and they were inside.   
  
Around a table sat a small, ragamuffin looking group of teenagers. The oldest, who seemed to be about twenty-one, worked on what looked like a ship engine, and two others sat silently looking on. A girl sat alone in a corner, crying silently, with a forlorn look on her face.   
  
Vader stood confusedly for a few minutes. He didn't know these people, didn't know their names or anything about them. Why should they matter. He walked over to the girl.   
  
"Why is she crying?"   
  
"Lost two friends, she has."   
  
Seeming to hear Yoda's words, the girl burst into tears anew and hugged the picture to her chest.   
  
"Will you quit your blubbering!" The older boy yelled. "There isn't anything you can do about their leaving, so why worry about it?"   
  
Her tears did not subside, they only quickened, and one of the other boys moved to hold her. His friend stood up, also wiping angry tears from his eyes.   
  
"Leave her alone, Fixer! Just because you don't care Luke and Biggs are gone, doesn't mean you have to beat up on us because of it!"   
  
Luke. The name sounded so familiar to Vader. He couldn't place anything on it, but he just knew it from somewhere.   
  
"Who are the boys that they mentioned, Master?"   
  
"Luke, hmmm...find out you will later. Biggs, a rebel. Killed him, your troops did."   
  
Vader's brow furrowed as he watched the scene. As soon as it had appeared, though, it was gone, and replaced by a vision that caused him to gasp.   
  
There, laying on a bunk in what seemed a small ship, lay Princess Leia Organa. 


	6. The Skywalker

iShe/i was the last person he wanted to see.   
  
With all the contempt and disgust that Darth Vader held for Leia Organa, a small part of him pitied her as she lay asleep in the small bunk room. He realized now, that it was not the bunk room of a ship, but a small, military bunking quarters. Rebel quarters.   
  
The princess lay sleeping soundly, half covered by a wool blanket. Her hair was taken down from the Alderaanian hairstyle that the princess often wore, and it fell in a cascade over her body and spilled, like a waterfall, over the edge of her bed. Her cheeks were red and tear-stained, and a few teardrops still rested on her cheek.   
  
She looked as if she had been broken.   
  
But no, she wasn't broken. The Princess always stood her ground, always kept on keeping on. Surely she would not defer now...   
  
Wincing at the use of his wife's words, Vader recalled the first time he'd met Princess Leia Organa. He'd been attending an Alderaanian ball, and having the worst of times, for Alderaan reminded him of Naboo and Naboo reminded him of other things he didn't want to think of. And then, on top of all of that, a brown streak of lightning had crashed straight into him.   
  
i"Excuse me, Lord Vader." the girl said. Her voice had no embarrasment in it (for it should have, she was standing in front of the Emperor's second-in-command wearing nothing but her nightgown and her hair all a mess) she stood with confidence, nodding curtly as she moved swiftly off into the corridors. Vader, unnerrved by the incident, looked confusedly after her.   
  
"Ami?" he said softly. /i  
  
  
  
He had not realized until later that the same girl he'd ran into in the halls was a member of the royal family of whom he was a guest. The Princess had intrigued him greatly. He'd even, once, dared a friendship with her.   
  
Until the Rebellion made their first strike, that is.   
  
Staring at her now, she reminded him more of Amidala than she had when he'd first met her. Something inside of him smiled...   
  
Just then, the door slid silently open...and a touseled blonde head entered the room, followed quickly by the rest of a teenage boy.   
  
Vader recognized him as the boy who had been with Kenobi. As Vader stared into the hauntingly familiar blue eyes, the enormity of the boy's Force presence hit him. Yoda's eyes widened with amusement as Vader took it all in.   
  
As he watched the boy stroke Leia's hair away from her face, Vader could not keep a suffocating fear from overwhelming him.   
  
This boy would be important.   
  
Just then, the teenage boy's commlink went off.   
  
"Solo to Skywalker.."   
  
The boy smiled. "Skywalker here."   
  
Vader could only stare.   
  
_____________________________  
  
Two distinct Force signatures--one of a small, wizened alien, living, and the stronger presence of the spirit of a Jedi Knight--weighed heavy in the small room. Vader thought he felt a familiar presence--it was almost subconscious. However, when the shock of what he saw before him was worn off and he realized the truth of the situation, he ignored what he had sensed and gave way to the storm of emotions that battled within him.   
  
Anakin inside him jumped for joy. iI'm a father! He is my son!/i   
  
Vader felt no joy, only betrayal. iPadme, why didn't you tell me?/i   
  
The only physical manifestation of Vader's inner struggle was the clenching of his right hand, and the deep, heavy sighs he made as he fought back the bitter tears that threatened to spill.   
  
While Vader struggled with this inner conflict, Yoda was conversing inside himself as well. He was not, however, speaking to himself. He was speaking, throught the Force, to Qui-Gon Jinn.   
  
iI feel that he will return to us soon. His presence in the Dark side is slowly…diminishing. Moreover, that Force-spot, the empty one where Ani's signature used to be, is filling. I can almost feel Anakin struggling to break free of Vader's bonds. That is why we have to help him.   
  
Know this for absolute, do you?   
  
I have seen it in a vision.   
  
Always in motion is the future. False, this dream could be.   
  
I have faith in Anakin.   
  
Said that before, you have. Did you no good then. Why now?   
  
It will be different this time.   
  
Risking all, I am, by the revealing the boy. So sure you are about this?   
  
Absolutely.   
  
Yoda sighed inwardly. Trust him, I do not!   
  
Rightly, you shouldn't trust Vader, not at all. However, Anakin Skywalker is a trustworthy man. He just needs to be set free of a prison where he has been trapped.   
  
I do not--   
  
Look at Anakin and stop your excuses, Yoda./i   
  
Turning his head, Yoda's little eyes widened as he gazed upon the towering form of Vader. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and a black gloved hand reached out to lay a hand on the boy's face. The boy had been keeping watch over the Princess with frequent calls to his partner 'Solo' until then, when he looked up, as if he sensed something. His eyes narrowed, and he seemed to look straight at Vader.   
  
"Ben?" he said tentatively.   
  
Vader realized shortly that his son could not see him, but looked in the direction that the Force pointed him. He also realized, after a time of contemplation, that "Ben" was Obi-wan. The boy's Force presence still had the lingering existence of a Master-Padawan bond--something Vader hadn't sensed in ages. Obi-wan had been his Master.   
  
"What is his name?" Vader said, his voice breaking.   
  
Yoda sighed. "Luke. Luke Skywalker, his name is."   
  
Vader nodded, looking at the boy, memorizing his features. Everything of his coloring--his blue eyes, and his tan skin, and the golden shade of his hair--had been inherited from Anakin. His frame and the features of his face, however, had been inherited from his mother.   
  
Suddenly Luke stood up, giving Leia's thin blanket one more tug over her slim body. She mumbled and shifted positions.   
  
"Luke…Han…"   
  
A smile cracked across the young Skywalker's face, and he spoke into his commlink.   
  
"She's fine now, Han. I'm coming in."   
  
"Hurry it up, kid, you're missing the party!"   
  
Luke's smile was his father's.   
  
____________________________________________   
  
Without a word of warning from tiny little Jedi, the little room was gone, and a new setting took it's place. All around them they were surrounded by grass and flowers--it was a very, very large meadow. A stream ran through the middle of it, bubbling and tripping over stones and branches of a tree that had fallen into it's path. His eye's rested on the sky, which was clouded, with several very large thunderclouds thick with rain. It's was just beginning to sprinkle, and the air was thick with the smell of a coming downpour.   
  
Standing in the grass, a strange sensation came over Vader. He suddenly realized he was no longer wearing the black of his Imperial garments. The Imperial issue sleepwear was gone, replaced by the long brown of Jedi robes. His hand flew to his head--where he was surprised to find something thick and blonde growing. A small braid brushed his shoulder.   
  
Rushing over to the stream, Vader examined his reflection.   
  
His shock blazed through the Force, as he realized the man in the water was not Darth Vader.   
  
Not Vader, but Anakin Skywalker.   
  
  
From his spot in the grass not far away, Yoda stared at him strangely. The Master's confusion was evident--he squinted his eyes and scratched his head, mystified.   
  
iWhat is this, Qui-Gon? Planned, this was not.   
  
I know. It's a last-minute contribution from some very eager young children. Anakin got so close when he saw Luke--well, I just thought that maybe we'd bring him closer if…   
  
If? What if? Children? Up there too long, I think you have been, Qui.   
  
Through the Force, Yoda could feel Qui-Gon smile. Yoda gave an annoyed little grimace and spoke. What say you, Qui-gon? See I can, that you're mind cannot be changed.   
  
Just do as I tell you, Master Yoda./i   
  
____________________________________________   
  
When Anakin turned back around, he was surprised to find that Yoda was nowhere to be found. He searched everywhere in that long meadow, under the tree over the stream, and over near the lake where the stream emptied out, but the little green man was nowhere to be found.   
  
"Master!" he called.   
  
Nothing. He gave a sigh, which very much resembled that of who he had been, and sat down on the ground like a frustrated child. He picked at a handful of grass and twirled his padawan braid around one finger, unsure of what to do. He was slowly, more and more, slipping into the persona of Anakin Skywalker, and the part of him that was Vader was angry.   
  
He stayed in that position for a few minutes longer, picking at the grass around him and playing with the braid that hung on his shoulder. Presently, he heard a splash and a very childlike scream.   
  
  
"Anakin!"   
  
  
His head snapped up, and he looked towards the lake, from which the sound had come. He could see nothing, because bushes blocked his vison. The screaming continued, however, and he was able to follow it. Whoever it was seemed to know him very well, for they screamed his name repeatedly.   
  
"Anakin, oh, Anakin, hold on, we're getting help!"   
  
Anakin narrowed his eyes as he arrived at the scene. Two small children, a boy and a girl who couldn't have been any older than twelve, were pulling another child, a younger one, out of the lake. The younger boy looked unconscious, and the other two had looks of panic on their faces.   
  
Forgetting that most of the people in his dreams had been unable to see him, Anakin rushed over to the trio. The girl cradled her younger brother's head in her lap, weeping.   
  
"Oh Anakin, Anakin, please wake up!"   
  
The other boy looked over at Anakin, who was still trying to understand why the girl kept calling his name. He ran over to Anakin, wiping his wet, unruly brown hair out of his eyes. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.   
  
"Our brother jumped in the lake! He can't swim, and he's almost drowned over there, sir. Please, can you help us?"   
  
Anakin nodded without hesitation, and walked over to the child. He stretched out through the Force--forgetting this was all a vision--and was knocked backwards by the strength of the boy's force presence. After his initial shock, though, he managed to give the boy a little strength.   
  
Laying the boy's head back on his sister's lap, Anakin sighed. He stared hard at the familiarity of the children, and narrowed his eyes.   
  
"Who are you?" he said softly.   
  
The two exchanged a smile, a wicked smile that told Anakin that she knew something he didn't.   
  
"My name is Jaina, this is Jacen, and that," she nodded towards the younger brother. "is our little brother Anakin."   
  
At the mention of his name, Anakin's eyes widened. The older boy smiled.   
  
"You can call us the Trio of Christmases That Might Have Been."   
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Sorry I wasn't able to finish it on time, guys. I will try to finish it by the end of the week.   
  
Love always,  
  
Kadie  
  
  
Remember this:   
  
Jesus is the Reason for the Season! 


End file.
